Please read these Terms of Service (these "Terms") carefully before accessing or using the OpenStax Tutor website, or other products, services, and pages offered by or through OpenStax Tutor.
OpenStax Tutor ("OpenStax Tutor " or the "Service") includes the services, products, and pages offered through the URLs openstaxtutor.org and/or tutor.openstax.org and/or openstax.org/openstax-tutor and/or accounts.openstax.org (collectively referred to as the "Site"). OpenStax Tutor is provided by William Marsh Rice University, its staff, independent contractors, and representatives (collectively referred to as "OpenStax," "we," "our," or "us"). As a person who accesses or registers to use the Service, you are a "User" (or "you") as such term is used in the Agreements ( defined below). A "Class" is an individual offering of a course through the Service. A Class is administered and overseen by "Class Educator(s)," which refers to the educator(s) administering the Class through the Service, including but not limited to, instructor(s), teaching assistant(s), and grader(s).
Your access and use of the Service constitute your acceptance of, and agreement to be bound by, these Terms of Service, the Privacy Policy, any policies and procedures incorporated by reference, and any additional terms and conditions you have agreed to (collectively referred to as the "Agreements"). If you do not agree and accept to be bound by the terms and conditions of the Agreements, you must discontinue using or accessing the Service.
Capitalized terms that are not defined in these Terms of Service have the meaning given them in our Privacy Policy.
You may use the Service only in compliance with these Terms and all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules, and regulations.
To use the Service, you must provide true, accurate, current, and complete information about yourself when you complete our registration forms, and you must agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Any use or access by anyone under the age of 13 is prohibited.
By using OpenStax Tutor, you represent and warrant that you are eligible to use the Service as described in this section.
We may modify the Agreements from time to time, for example to reflect changes to the Service or relevant laws. If we make material changes to the Agreements, we will, as applicable, notify you, your school, or school district of our intended changes and ask you or them to agree to modifications. If you, your school, or school district do not agree to the modifications, you must discontinue your use of the Service.
Please read the Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy explains our policies and procedures with regard to data we collect when you use or access the Service. By using the Service, you consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of such data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy will be treated as part of these Terms.
You understand and agree that you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your user account ("User Account") and password, and you understand and agree that you are responsible for all activities that occur under your User Account through the use of your password. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your User Account.
You agree that you will create, use, and access only one User Account. You agree that you will not access the Service using multiple User Accounts. You agree not to let anyone else use your User Account, or to use another's User Account.
By registering for the Service, you acknowledge your understanding and agreement that your use of the Service is optional and voluntary. Class Educators understand and agree that they may be required to provide other accommodations (such as paper assignments) to Users who do not agree to the terms of the Agreements. OpenStax is not responsible for arranging for other accommodations.
As used in the Agreements, "Content" refers to any content, information, or materials submitted, posted, uploaded, or otherwise appearing (collectively, "submitted") on or through the Service, including but not limited to text, images or graphics, audio, video, code, documents, and other materials.
By submitting Content to the Service, you warrant, represent, and agree that you have the necessary rights, licenses, and/or permissions to submit that Content to the Service and to authorize OpenStax and its users to display or otherwise use and distribute your Content. You warrant, represent, and agree that your submission of Content will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party. You understand and agree that you, and not OpenStax, are solely responsible for your Content and the consequences of posting or publishing that Content.
You warrant, represent, and agree that you have not and will not submit Content to the Service that includes other parties' private or personally identifiable information without their express authorization.
You further warrant, represent, and agree that you have not and will not submit any Content that is unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene, or otherwise objectionable, in our sole discretion. While we prohibit such conduct and Content on the Service, you understand and agree that OpenStax cannot be responsible for the Content posted on the Service and you nonetheless may be exposed to such materials.
Additionally, you agree (a) not to use the Service in any manner intended to interfere with or disrupt the Site or servers or networks connected to any Site servers, or to damage the operation of other users' computer or property; (b) that you may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Site, other accounts, computer systems, or networks connected to any Site server; and (c) that any unauthorized attempt to access, scrape, or download in bulk any materials or information stored on the website, its servers, or associated computers is strictly prohibited.
The content in the Service may be protected by United States copyright law, the equivalent laws of other countries, and international treaties. You agree to respect the intellectual property rights of the authors of works appearing in the Service. You may only use such works subject to the terms and conditions of their respective licenses, if any, and applicable law. You may only copy, modify, distribute and otherwise use the works in the Service in accordance with a license to do so or as may otherwise be permitted under applicable law.
Registering for or completing a Class hosted on OpenStax Tutor by an external institution does not, in and of itself, confer any special standing upon you with any institution. You will not be an applicant for admission to, or enrolled in, any degree program offered by an institution as a result of registering for or completing a course provided by that institution through OpenStax Tutor.
The Service may include links to sites maintained or controlled by others. You agree that these sites are not under our control and that we are not responsible for and do not routinely screen, approve, review or endorse the contents of or use of any of the products or services that may be offered at these sites. You further agree that we are not responsible for the collection and use of your information by such websites. If you decide to access linked third party web sites, you understand and agree that you do so at your own risk. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the terms, practices, and privacy policies of each website you visit and use.
OpenStax may from time to time charge fees for you to access a Class hosted by the Service. Our fees, if any, are available on the Site. Unless otherwise stated, our fees are quoted in U.S. dollars. You are responsible for paying all fees and applicable taxes with a payment mechanism supported by the Service. Fees may vary based on your Class and other factors. OpenStax reserves the right to change any fees at any time at its sole discretion. OpenStax is under no obligation to provide you access to a Class or the Content in the Service after the Class end date shown in the Service.
Refunds may be available for use of the Service as described in this Refund Policy. Students who purchase access to the Service may request a refund of the price of the Service within fourteen (14) days of purchasing access to the Service.
A user who is eligible for a refund under this refund policy can log in to the Service and request a refund. Refunds will be credited via the original payment method. Once a refund is issued for a Class in the Service, user access to that Class will terminate.
OpenStax may, but is not obligated to, provide a 14-day period during which students may enroll in and access a course in the Service without paying (the “Grace Period”). Students will be prompted to pay for access to the Service at the end of the Grace Period in order to continue access to the Service. OpenStax reserves the right to alter or discontinue the Grace Period policy at any time at our sole discretion.
This entire section shall survive the termination of the Agreements.
OpenStax reserves the right at any time and from time to time, in our sole discretion, to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service with or without notice. We may refuse service, close accounts of users, and change our requirements at any time. We shall not have any responsibility or liability to you or to any third party in the event of any such modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.
You understand and agree that you, and not OpenStax, are solely responsible and liable for your use of the Service, for your use of the Content in the Service, for any Content you submit, for all activities that occur under your account, and/or for any consequences thereof, including the use of your Content by other Users and third parties. In addition, any use of, or reliance on, Content made available on or through the Service, or obtained by you through the Service, is entirely at your own risk.
We do not undertake any obligation to review or monitor any Content submitted by Users and shall not have any responsibility or liability in connection therewith. However, we may remove Content if we deem it appropriate to do so, in our sole discretion, including but not limited to, to comply with law or legal process, to respond to third party complaints, to enforce these Terms, or to protect OpenStax Tutor, OpenStax, or our affiliates.
THE SERVICE AND ANY INFORMATION, CONTENT, OR SERVICES MADE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WE DO NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION THAT THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS OR ACHIEVE THE INTENDED PURPOSES. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT DEFECTS ON THE SITE OR IN INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE WILL BE CORRECTED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL OPERATE IN AN UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE MANNER OR THAT THE SITE IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY (INCLUDING YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR PROPERTY) OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OR USE OF THE CONTENT. YOUR USE OF THE SITE, AND THE CONTENT AND SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE, IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY, WHETHER IN TORT ( INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, SHALL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, CLAIMS FOR DEFAMATION, ERRORS, LOSS OF DATA, OR INTERRUPTION IN AVAILABILITY OF DATA) DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, WITH THE OPERATION, MAINTENANCE, ACCESS OR USE OF THE SERVICE, YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE OR ACCESS ANY RELATED INFORMATION OR SERVICES, OR YOUR RELIANCE UPON INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICE.
TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, BY USING AND ACCESSING THE SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND LIABLE FOR ANY AND ALL DEMANDS, CLAIMS, ACTIONS, DAMAGES, LOSSES, LIABILITIES, COSTS AND EXPENSES, INCLUDING ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COURT COSTS, SUFFERED BY OPENSTAX DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR ACCESS OR USE OF THE SERVICE, YOUR SUBMISSION OF ANY CONTENT TO THE SERVICE, OR YOUR VIOLATION OF ANY OF THE TERMS OR CONDITIONS OF THE AGREEMENTS.
Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Agreements shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
If any provision of the Agreements is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties agree that provision will be removed or edited as little as necessary, and the other provisions of the Agreements shall remain in full force and effect.
The Agreements shall be interpreted and enforced under the laws of the United States and the State of Texas, without giving effect to its conflicts or choice of law principles. In the event a dispute arises related to the Agreements or your access or use of the Service, you agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts located in Harris County, Texas.
The Agreements and our Privacy Policy (which are incorporated herein by reference), and any additional terms and conditions you have agreed to make up the entire agreement and supersede all prior agreements, representations, and understandings. The headers and sidebar text used in the Agreements are provided only to make the Agreements easier to read and understand and will not affect the way the Agreements are interpreted.
This Privacy Notice describes how OpenStax collects and processes personal information in connection with the access or use of any of our individual services, products, and websites that link to this Privacy Notice, including the main OpenStax.org website, OpenStax College, OpenStax CNX, OpenStax Tutor, OpenStax Accounts, the OpenStax reading experience, and OpenStax Exercises (collectively, the "Services"). The Services are provided by William Marsh Rice University (hereafter referred to as "OpenStax," "Rice," "we," "our," or "us"). This Privacy Notice includes specific sections addressing individual services, such as OpenStax Tutor, or activities, such as creating OpenStax accounts. Please read this Privacy Notice carefully before creating an OpenStax account or accessing or using the Services.
If you are accessing OpenStax from the European Economic Area ("EEA"), please refer to our European Economic Area Privacy Notice here, which supplements this Privacy Notice: www.gdpr.rice.edu.
Personal information is information, or a combination of pieces of information, that could reasonably allow you to be identified or be associated with you.
We collect personal information about you from a variety of sources, including information we collect directly from you (e.g., when you contact us by email or request information through our website), personal information we automatically collect about your use of the Services (e.g., information collected from cookies and similar technologies), and personal information we collect about you from other sources, such as third-party authentication services.
Information You Provide to Us: We collect and store personal information that you submit when you create an OpenStax user account , use or access the Services, send us an email, or otherwise provide information to us. The categories of personal information we collect directly from you include the following: personal details (e.g., your name); contact details (e.g., email address, phone number, postal address); account details (e.g., authentication information such as username and password); communications (e.g., when you contact us or participate in surveys); demographics (e.g., gender, age, or other demographic information you provide, such as in the context of optional activities including surveys or learning research studies, including in the context of OpenStax Tutor); and content you submit (e.g., any text, questions, explanations, descriptions, answers, images or graphics, audio, video, and other materials you post, upload, or otherwise submit (collectively, "submitted") on or through the Services to any interactive portions of the Services, such as in the context of OpenStax Tutor).
Personal Information We Automatically Collect: The following are examples of categories of personal information we automatically collect when you use the Services, including through the use of "cookies," which are small text files that the Services save on your computer or device and access when you return: technical data collected from your computer or mobile device (e.g., your IP address, operating system, browser and/or plugin information, referring and exiting URLs); information about your usage of the Services (e.g., which webpages you visit; how often you use the Services; and how you interact with the Services including the order in which pages are visited, dates and times of interactions, and how long you spend on certain tasks); location information (i.e., geolocation data based on your IP address and point of connectivity); and i nformation we generate about you (e.g., our understanding of your interests and relevant demographics as a result of your use of the Services; whether you are a regular or occasional user of the Services) .
For more information about cookies and how we use them, please refer to www.privacy.rice.edu .
We also collect personal information through Google Analytics, to better understand our users and consistently improve our Services for our customers. You can learn more about how Google uses data at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners. To opt-out of Google Analytics, please access this link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.
Information from Other Sources: The following are examples of categories of personal information we collect from other sources, including if you connect to the Services using third-party authentication services (such as those provided by Twitter, Facebook, Google, or Learning Management Systems (LMSs)), in which case we will collect and store information provided by those third parties. These categories of information include: p ersonal details (e.g., name); contact details (e.g., email address) ; third-party identifiers (e.g. school ID numbers); and s ocial media information (e.g., if you log in using social sign-on features, we may collect other information associated with your social media profile such as your profile picture) .
We use your personal information for the following purposes:
We may also de-identify your personal information, as permitted under applicable laws, so that you may not reasonably be re-identified by us or any other party, and we may use or share such de-identified information for any purpose, including for additional research purposes.
We share personal information with third parties as follows:
We may also share de-identified information, as described above, with third parties for any purpose, including for additional research purposes.
You may have specific rights regarding your personal information granted to you by law, where applicable. Individuals in the EEA should refer to Rice’s European Economic Area Privacy Notice, available at www.gdpr.rice.edu, for more details about individual rights under the GDPR.
Please feel free to contact us at the details below with any question or concern about privacy or personal information.
OpenStax
Rice University
6100 Main Street, MS-375
Houston, TX 77005
Email: support@openstax.org
FERPA Rights. In some cases, OpenStax remains under the direct control of the school for the personal information it receives subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), in which case OpenStax uses personal information only for purposes authorized by the school. Where this applies, schools retain the right to ask OpenStax to access, correct, or delete personal information collected through the Services, and OpenStax will support access to and correction of personal information by parents consistent with legal requirements.
Because OpenStax remains under the direct control of the school in this context, parents who may have concerns about the collection or use of students’ personal information through OpenStax should contact their school. If you are not sure who at your student’s school will be able to help, please contact us using the contact details listed below.
The Services may include links to other websites, and we are not responsible for the collection and use of your information by such websites. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the privacy policies and cookie practices of each website you visit and use.
Rice takes the security of your information seriously and has dedicated resources to the protection of your data. This includes technological controls and a staff that is trained in information confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic data, resources, and communications. More information is available at https://vpit.rice.edu/information-security.
If we update or modify our Privacy Notice, we will post the revised notice here, with an updated revision date. If we make significant changes to our Privacy Notice that materially alter our privacy practices, we may also notify you directly by other means prior to the changes taking effect.